MUNICIPAL COUNCIL. Presont-Ills Worship the Mayor, Aldermen EUoubon Lipscombe, O'ltollly, Simms, and Sly. FRIDAY, 2 Otli Avait, 1855. The minutes of the last meeting for the appeals against the assessments, and for other business, vere read and confirmed. Alderman Lipscombe brought up three reports from the Publio Works' Committoe, and one from the Water Works' Committee. A letter, was read from Thomas Pascoe, com- plaining of the nuisance from a drain on Mr. Watchorn's premises; it was referred to the City Inspector. A letter from Andrew Harvey was read, in refe- rence to his resignation as overseer. Alderman Lipscombe observed, that the matter had been referred to the Public Works' Committee, and he was most anxious to have it settled ; but Alderman Sly did not attend, and Alderman Thomson vas ill, it was hard upon Mr. Harvey, against whom no ground of complaint had been preferred, and against whom there WAS no charge. Alderman O'Reilly thought Mr. Harvey should be heard by the co...

I ADVERTISEMENT.]* To the Editor of the Mercs ry. SIR,-A paragraph has appeared in the Advertiser of Saturday, under the heading of " Skeleton Keys," which has most unjustly and most wrong- fully reflected on my character, and the manner in which I conduct my house. In that paragraph, I am actually accused, by one Mr. Janies Nicholas with being instrumental to his robbery of two f 5 notes, and a £3 note of the Union Bank, by means of, a false key. Kow, the facts of this case are as follows:'-this Mr. James Nicholas came to my house, the day before Good Friday with a carpet bag, and a box, which he left in a bed-ioom appropria- ted to his use ; he then went into the country, and, a« I believe, went to the play the same evening : the next day he dined with me and Mrs. Chapman, and called for a bottle of Port Wine ; this he received, and then called for a second, when I told him I could not afford to let p»y wine go with- out payment, and that as he was a perfect stranger to me I expec...

VICTORIA. WE have Melbourne journals to the 2l9t instant:-Great excitement prevailed upon the subject of the influx of Chinese into the Colouy, nnd it was expected that ano- ther Prevention Bill similar in atrocity to the one affecting this Colony would be pas- sed to exclude their immigration into the Land of Gold. In the Legislative Council on Friday last, the Speaker, upon taking his seat, announced, that His Excellency had attached the Royal Assent to the Gold Export Duty Bill. The Argus of the following day in a leading niticlc upon the subject says : " The deed is done j and the bill for exact- ing an export duty upon the gold is passed into a law. It goes to our very heart to say anything disparaging of a measure which is calculated to add in any way to the resources of our somewhat needy ex- chequer ; but our opinion of the impolicy of this expedient remains unchanged, if, indeed, our objections be not very conside- rably increased by the nature of many of the details of the...

SYDNEY. We have received our files to the 17inst. THE amount received says the Empire ' tor duties at the Custom House, during the | i week ending on the 14th; was £6393 7s. I lOd. which was collected on the under- mentioned articles : Articles. Amount. £ a. d. Spirits . 5209 0 11 Wine. 192 13 4 Beeerandale . 80 11 6 Tobacco, cigars, &amp;c... 789 19 IO Tea . 221 5 8 Coffee, chocolate, Ace 130 3 2 Fruit. 13 10 0 Sugar. 3'G 3 5 Total revenue, £6893 7 1» The imports for the same period amount- ed to £117,145 ; and the total value of our exports was £5*3,985. Considerable speculation exists in com- mercial circles as to, the probability of the imposition of new duties, on the meeting j of tho Legislative Council ; and several heavy parcels of teas have been withdrawn from the market, it is said in anticipation of the doubling of the import duty on this article. The disposition of holders to in- creased firmness, is no doubt enhanced by the fact- fat few vessels are expected from Ch...

Cite ftofovtotv J$temtt?j>« AVEDNESDAY MORNING, APRIL 25, 1855 ' " She speaks, yet she says nothing." , i , SlIAKSl'EABE. Otra contemporary the Courier, after a long and apathetic silence, has at length enunciated an opinion respecting the late elections, founded on the famous expres- sion of Mr. Elliston, that "an active minority of electors had upset an apathetic majority." However applicable this ex- pression might have been at the period of its enunciation, circumstances have greatly changed in the political aspect of the colony. At that time the people were ruled and influenced by a clique, who held a large amount of power in ita hands ; but " a change has come o'er the spirit of our dream," and the people have discovered their own great power, and have acted upon it. The opinion of the Courier is not only untenable throughout, but it is a gross and palpable outrage upon the whole constituency of the colony. Hear what she puts forth in proof of this. Advert- ing to the "apat...

FESTIVAL OF ST. GEORGE. PUBLIC DINNER. Monday bein? St. George's Day, was ap- pointed for a Public Dinner to celebrate the festival of St. George, the Patron Saint of Merrie England,' in imitation of our fellow countrymen of Ireland and Scotland, who commemorate the anniversaries of their patron saints with becoming nationality. The dinner was appointed for six o'clock, but it was past seven before it was placed on the table ; this wns a cause nf general dissatisfaction, a» seve- ral persons left to go to the theatre, and would have remained there, hud not the house been completely full. With this "contretemps." the dinner and the attendance were unexcep- tionable. The Mavor took the chair, supported on the right l>v Mr T. D. Chapman, M.L.C., and on the left by Mr. A. Perry, M.L.C., and Mr. J. C. Walker was Croupier, about sixty sat down to dinner. A portion of the band of the 9''tli regiment was atationed in an anti-chamber, and played several popular airs. The good things provi...

VICTORIA, APRIL 2lST.' Thegold market ii firm at £3 17s., but very little business is doing awong«t.-.thc brokera. ', The import markets' continuelto improve« under the influence Of diminished arrivals iVotn England. The total number of vessels arrived from . distant ports this week, has been only 5, vis. :-two'from England, two from Mauritius, and on« from Val? paraíso. sThe flour trade remains firm at last week's rates; a rise would have taken place, but for the arrival yestciday, ofa cargo of Chilian Flour (abuot 000 tons), as stocks hap become very low at Mel- bourne. Fine sugars are on the advance. The shippsrs of Cossipore sugar lost so heavily by late transactions, that veiy little is expected to arrive for some time .to come. English loaf sugar is also advancing in price from the same cause. AVm. Brownbill &amp; Co, King-street, Wharf, re- port :-There is a large demand for pressed hay this week. Prices have advanced, and we now quote Victoria Pressed Hay, at £10 ; ditto...

COTTON AGAINST SEBASTOPOL. The peace-at-any-price party must look sharply about, or they will find their favourite staple,cotton being energetically used against the troops and granito walis of tho mild-eye Nicholas, and that, too by Austria's hope himself. A writer in the Times, says :-" It was cursorily announ- ced that one hundred guns were boing on hand been cast at Vienna, to employ gun cotton, instead of that relic of antiquity, gunpowder, Six-pounders can bo converted with superior effect iuto twelves of the description which the Russians now are employed. It is uo longer surprising that we hear from the Crimea that Russian guns of the same calibre have a greater range than our own. . " Guncotton is four to six times as powerful as gunpowder ; it isquickor in its discharge, but is quick or slow according to the degree of compression ; it makes little smoke, it does not foul the gun, it saves tho delay of priming, it seldom misses fire in the worst weather, it may even be kept...

To Political Writers. Of Colonial experience will ne preferred. i Apply cither personally or by letter to the pro- prietor of thit Journal. .,23rd April, 1855. " , .'""''??'i ¡o-U-^_-_^_ ' - ;'. ' ' \rl To Literary &amp; Scientific Gentlemen» WANTED a Gentleman properly qualified to undertake . the Literary and Scientific de- partments of a Daily Journal. :.>>-' : Apply either personally or by letter to the pro -prietor of tliis Journal. 2iJrd April, 1855/ ; '?. \\ To Reporters; ['.'-'. WANTED immediately two practical RE- PORTERS for a daily journal; To thoroughly competent persons liberal salaries .will be given. Apply either personally or' by letter to the proprietor of this Journal. ' - 23rd April.1855.. TO THE REV. JAMES NORMAN^ :.' .; ' .?-Sorell, , ^V,.; ' ^ j^ SIR,-We, the undersigned, request that ' you will be pleased to convene a pub- lic meeting of the inhabitants of the Lower Settlement of Sorell, for the purpose of forming a local'committee,'andadopting such ...

EUROPEAN INTELLIGENCE ' We begin to hope, almost toj expect, that we shall see- an end of the war before the year closèsi We place no reliance on the moderation of Russia -we have still less faith in her humiliation.' We count not much on'the co-operation of Austria. Prussia we put entirely out of the ques- tion. Sebastopol may bo taken and destroyed, or it may not-we begin to suspect that, so far as the issues of war are concerned, it is a matter of no great con- sequence. Our solemn and deliberate conviction is, that the"war, as we feared from the beginning, it is not intended to eventuate in a larger measure of popular freedom, either at home or abroad-the conduct of it we believe to be with Govern- ments that have no sympathy with what have been contemptuously designated, " oppressed nationalities"-and so soon as the continuance of the war is found to be more threatening to,thanprovocativeoftthe preponderant influence of the aristocracy in our system of government-we are of opin...

PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS. THE WUABD, JACOBS. The " famous Jacobs." The unparslelled magi, «ian Jaoobsl The King of all necromancers I This mysterious personage t'who completely puts those terrible alohymists Drs. Dee and Lilly into the grade of" common conjurers," gave his first mys- tic entertainment at the Victoria Theatre, on Mon- day evening,'before a crowded and awc-strickcîr auditory, who having 'marvelled and looked1 aghast at his wondrous doings, wenthorae to "bed" --not to sleep-but " to think how such things could be,"-we eonfess ourselves to have been non- plussed, indeed, whilst tremblingly penning this description of the "Wizard's" triumphant debut we occasionally cast a feverish and anxious look towards the door, lest, in doing so, we use some expression likely to raise the Ire of his magician ship-and who by way of sportive retaliation, might transform us into a "statue" or some other equally to be feared monstrosity-this is certainly a strange world. " Wizards' . of the mos...

ROYAL VICTORIA THEATRE. Tremendous Triumph! ABSOLUTE ENTHUSIASM Unqualified Approbation ! AND MOST FASHIONABLE AUDIENCES Greet the ASTOUNDING PERFORMANCES of mc. JACoiis . -WHO PEBFOBMS EYEBY ETENHTO ! Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. OBSERVE Over 21,600 PERSONS in^ Sydney, in four weeks, have visited Jacob's Entertartainmcnt, to witness his ultra extraordinaiy performances in his TEMPLE OF METAMOEPHOLOGY Which occupied the entire stage of the Theatre. JACOBS ! THE GREAT MAGICIAN .y FENTRILOQUIST During the Week. JACOBS' VENTRILOQUIAL POWERS ARE ASTONISHING ! Jacob»1 Prophetic Sall is Truly Wonderful JACOBS' CASH-BOX Is Marvellous.-Fail not to Bee it. Jacobs' ¡¡¡tay in Sbbarton is limited to a Very Few Nights. JACOBS Performs Remember EVERY NIGHT Boxes can be secured for any night in Ad % vanee to see JACOBS' GBAND ENTERTAINMENT! Prices as usual. The Prices are as usual-Private boxes, 6s ; Dress boxes, 5s ; Pit, 2B Cd ; no half-price.-Doors will be open at ...

LOCAL NEWS THE WRIT.-Considerable disappointment and indignation has been felt by the citizens at the apathy of the Government and the non-issue of the writ for a Member in the place of John Dunn Esq., resigned. It is now three weeks since Mr. Dunn officially and publicly announced his retire- ment-and two gentlemen have been requested to offer themselves as Candidates for the vacancy thus created. Is there a Government Dodge in view? Is the Government of Sir H. Young commencing to turn and vaecilate ?-Is good faith not to be kept with the public. The delay is both discreditable and disgraceful, and when we ascertain the really blameablc party we shall not hesitate to speak out upon the subject. REVISION OF THE ELECTORAL LIST.-A court of Quarter Sessions will be held on Wednesday day, the 9th of May, at the court house, Hobart Town, for a revision of the Electoral Lists of Hobart Town and Buckingham. We should ad- vise the electors, therefore, to be mindful of the oocasion, and if t...

L4UCEST0N, APRIL 21 Tlie only alteration we have to note is in the oats, which have declined to 8s, and8 s. GA., and there is none in great request Our shipping list will show that up to the present period more' oats have been exported than we ever, at this season, shipped be- fore-hence the Melbourne market is over sup- plied. AVheatisfirm atlas. £d. to 13s. Fine flour £37 to £38. Bran Ss. Gd. to 3s. 8d. Hay, nomi- nal, £». Potatoes 15/. 10s. to ICI, Provisions remain at the prices last quoted, but with a «till greater scarcity in the market. Fresh butter 3s. per lb, ; eolonial potted do. 2s. to 2s. 2d. per lb. ; Irish potted do., none for sale; eolonial. bacon, Js. 6d. to Is. 8o\ per lb., very scarce ; colo m'.il hams, none for sa'e ; of York or Westphalia hams, the market i« quite bare, a supply would find ready buyers at Is. 3d. to Is. Cd. per lb. ; cheese« colonial, Is. 6d. per lb. ; very scarce; eggs 3s. 6d. per dozen ; candles, sperm, 2s. to 2s. fld, per lb., retail, accordin...

T PATRIOTIC WAR FUND THE COLLECTORS for the FUND J. are requested to meet at the Committee Room, on WEDNESDAY, the 25th inst.1 at half.past 3 o'clock p m., to hand in their Subscription Lists, and make arrangements for completing the canvass of the city. By order of the Committee, JOHN M. GOULD, Hon. Sec. PATRIOTIC FUND. THE Executive Committee meet at Three p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, and Fiiday, at the Committee Rooms, Mac quarie-street. JoriN M, GOULD, Hon. Sec. &amp;lt; 26th March, 1855. TO FELLMONGERS. WANTED immediately a man who thoroughly understands his business to whom liberal wages will be given, on application to WHITE AND WnrGiiT, Elizabeth-street. April 13, 1855. IMPORTANT TO HOUSEHOLDERS. THE UNDERSIGENED having recei- ved direct f'om the manufacturéis, ex Antipodies and Bernicia, a large quan- tity of Lead Piping of various sizes Ball Taps, and every other articles of this des- cription, notifies to those persons desiious of having Water laid on their premises, th...